The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Artificial intelligence

  • Accenture: Artificial Intelligence, others to boost productivity

    Accenture Nigeria said its investments in Artificial Intelligence (AI), Virtual Reality (VR), robotics and blockchain technology capabilities will help businesses across various sectors and boost their productivity and efficiency through innovations.

    The management consulting and professional services giant said technology will continue to evolve.

    Speaking with reporters after a demo at its Lagos office at the weekend, its Managing Director, Mr. Niyi Tayo, said earlier in the year, the firm had predicted that many consumers and enterprise clients will depend on AI to select products.

    He said: “Early this year, we predicted that in five years, more than half of consumers and enterprise clients will select products and services based on a company’s AI, instead of the company’s traditional brand. And in seven years, most interfaces will not have a screen and will be integrated into daily tasks. These two predictions alone strongly suggest that companies must act now on developing their AI Journey.

    “We want businesses in Nigeria – from banking to manufacturing, health, construction, education, retail, security and other sectors to take advantage of the innovations we have created to improve their businesses. We believe as one of the biggest economies in Africa, the time to seize the future is now.”

    He dismissed the fear that robots will lead to job loss, stressing that the reverse will be the case as people will get retrained.  “There is clear evidence that points towards robotic automation in many cases being a complement for human labour rather than a direct substitute. Human effort becomes more valuable as it is focuses on higher-level tasks, creativity, know-how, and thinking,” he said.

    Accenture early this year published a report, titled: 2017 Technology Vision, which studied how AI will affect banks going forward. Over 600  of the world’s  major bankers were asked about the new technology and how it ’ll change the way banks operate internally and how they handle their customers externally.

    According to the report, three quarter of the bankers surveyed, four out of five to be exact, believe that AI will become the primary way banks interact with their customers. This is in relation to customer service, and these bankers see AI technologies such as chatbots becoming increasingly essential for banks in the not-so-distant future.

  • Accenture: artificial intelligence, robotics, others’ll boost productivity

    Accenture Nigeria said its investments in Artificial Intelligence (AI), Virtual Reality (VR), robotics and blockchain technology capabilities will help businesses across various sectors  boost their productivity and efficiency through innovations.

    The management consulting and professional services giant said technology will continue to evolve.

    Speaking with reporters after a demo at its Lagos office at the weekend, its Managing Director Mr. Niyi Tayo, said earlier in the year, the firm had predicted that many consumers and enterprise clients will depend on AI to select products.

    He said: “Early this year, we predicted that in five years, more than half of consumers and enterprise clients will select products and services based on a company’s AI, instead of the company’s traditional brand. And in seven years, most interfaces will not have a screen and will be integrated into daily tasks. These two predictions alone strongly suggest that companies must act now on developing their AI Journey.

    “We want businesses in Nigeria – from banking to manufacturing, health, construction, education, retail, security, and other sectors to take advantage of the innovations we have created to improve their businesses. We believe as one of the biggest economies in Africa, the time to seize the future is now.”

    He dismissed the fear that robots will lead to job loss, stressing that the reverse will be the case as people will get retrained.  “There is clear evidence that points toward robotic automation in many cases being a complement for human labour rather than a direct substitute. Human effort becomes more valuable as it is focused on higher-level tasks, creativity, know-how, and thinking,” he said.

    Accenture early this year published a report, titled: 2017 Technology Vision, which studied how AI will affect banks going forward. Over 600 of the world’s  major bankers were were asked about the new technology and how it’ll change the way banks operate internally and how they handle their customers externally.

    According to the report, three quarters of the bankers surveyed, four out of five to be exact, believe that AI will become the primary way banks interact with their customers. This is in relation to customer service, and these bankers see AI technologies such as chatbots becoming increasingly essential for banks in the not-so-distant future.

     

     

     

     

  • Ericsson: Artificial intelligence to make inroad

    Consumers expect artificial intelligence (AI) to move from assistants to managers while virtual reality will be indistinguishable from physical in only three years, Country Manager, Ericsson Nigeria, Johan Jemdahl has said.

    Speaking during the presentation of Ericsson Consumer Lab report in Lagos, he said the firm has discovered what it termed 10 hot consumer trends for 2017 and beyond.

    According to the technology firm, AI is an important theme this year and consumers see it playing a much more prominent role than before – both in the society and at work. In fact, 35 per cent of advanced internet users want an AI advisor at work, and one in four would like an AI as their manager.  At the same time, almost half are concerned that AI robots will soon make a lot of people to lose their jobs.

    Consumers are increasingly using automated applications, encouraging internet of things (IoT) adoption. Two in five believe smartphones will learn their habits and perform activities on their behalf automatically while car drivers may not exist in the future. One in four pedestrians would feel safer crossing a street if all cars were autonomous, and 65 per cent of them would prefer to have an autonomous car. It warned that as autonomous cars become a reality, car sickness issues will increase, and three in 10 foresee needing sickness pills. One in three also wants motion sickness pills for use with virtual and augmented reality technology.

    Almost four out of five virtual reality (VR) users believe it will be indistinguishable from reality in only three years. Half of the respondents were already interested in gloves or shoes that allow you to interact with virtual objects.

    “The smart device safety paradox: more than half already use emergency alarms, tracking or notifications on their smartphones. Of those who say their smartphone makes them feel safer, three in five say they take more risks because they rely on their phone.

    “Social silos: today, people willingly turn their social networks into silos. One in three says social networks are their main source of news. And more than one in four value their contacts’ opinions more than politicians’ viewpoints.

    “Augmented personal reality: over half of the people would like to use augmented reality glasses to illuminate dark surroundings and highlight dangers. More than one in three would also like to edit out disturbing elements around them,” Jemdahl said.

    According to Ericsson, two in five advanced internet users want to use only encrypted services, but people are divided. Almost half would like to have just reasonably good privacy across all services, and more than one out of three believes privacy no longer exists while more than two out of five advanced internet users would like to get all their products from the biggest five IT companies. Of those, three in four believe this will happen only five years from now.

    Reflecting on the rise of virtual reality, Michael Björn, Head of Research, Ericsson ConsumerLab, said: “Beyond real time, I believe we should be talking about reality time. In fact, what we call reality becomes ever more personal and subjective. Consumers not only surround themselves with the like-minded on social networks, but also are also starting to customise the way they experience the world with augmented and virtual reality technologies.